[periwinkle]

I'm thinking I bought a stick of RAM when I first purchased the computer 6 years ago.  So I think that means I only have one.  I could definitely believe I have a problem with the memory.

 

The computer stayed on all day and overnight.  So it was on this morning.  I ran an Avira scan last night and it found nothing.   Spybot also found nothing.  AdAware found a couple of little things.  I don't think they were anything important. 

 

The other question I have is:  would a bad memory stick cause my other 2 hard drives to "disappear"?

 

I'll download the app you recommended and let you know my results.  I think if I remove the memory stick the computer wouldn't work right.  I'm pretty sure I bought it because it had everything I wanted but was low on memory.  I have always had the memory stick in it.

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The other question I have is: would a bad memory stick cause my other 2 hard drives to "disappear"?

Nope I would have to believe it is a bad controller on the motherboard.

[rshaffer61]

The other question I have is: would a bad memory stick cause my other 2 hard drives to "disappear"?

Nope I would have to believe it is a bad controller on the motherboard.

[periwinkle]

OK, so I'm about to do the Memtest, but I notice in your instructions, the first bullet is blank.  Did you delete something or is it intentional that the first line of instructions is missing?  I feel very wary about going into the BIOS.  This is really beyond my comfort zone.  Would you let me know if you meant to leave something out or if it accidentally got deleted?

 

As far as working in the BIOS, the fellow who installed my hard drives worked in the BIOS, but he's a PhD.  I just watched and he set up my computer so it would go through a startup sequence to let me know the hard drive was working.  I have no hard drive light in this computer and didn't notice it until I had purchased it.  He thought that was poor design.

 

An interesting note:  As I was opening the Memtest file to write to the CD, I noticed that my computer recognized one of my hard drives!  Not the second one, but the first one.  

 

Also, as I was downloading the Memtest file and ImageBurn, my AV found some viruses.  I haven't had this happen in many months!  It seemed that the AV was trying to create a search bar or something very odd like that.  It said Avira wanted to create its own safe search bar.  I have no idea why this happened.  I stopped it.  Avira has never done anything like this before!

[periwinkle]

The offending virus was AVG Mysearch toolbar.  Apparently it came bundled with one of the apps I installed.  I was not prompted that this crap was going to be included when I downloaded the app.  I managed to remove it.  I hate those things!  It put the searchbar into Internet Explorer, a browser I rarely use.

[rshaffer61]

No there is no missing part of the instructions.
Once you have completed the memtest86 steps I may have a malware tech take a look a little deeper to see if you may have a hidden infection.
Not to worry as it may not but I want to cover all the bases to be sure.

[periwinkle]

Well thankfully, I did not have to get into the BIOS/CMOS.  I ran the MemTest and it did not find even 1 error.  It ran 7 passes and nothing.  That test did take a long time.  I started it before going to bed and had some things to do in the morning to early afternoon.

[rshaffer61]

That is great to hear. Have you checked for driver updates?
Download DriverMax and have it scan your system. It will open their website with all the out of date drivers you can update. With the free version you can update only 2 drivers per day so if you have a lot of them it will take a few days to get everything updated. I have been using it for about a year now and like it better then any other utility out there for keeping my drivers up to date.
If you want you can post screenshots of all the drivers in the list that need to be updated and I will suggest in what order to get them.

[rshaffer61]

Can you also do the following and supply the link please.

Please Run the PCPitstop.com OverDrive Full Tests

Here's how:

You must use your Internet Explorer for this procedure. (doesn't work so well in Firefox or others). If your machine is running Vista or Windows 7, you must Select IE to “Run as Administrator”. After completing PCPitstop OverDrive you can close your IE browser and re-open it Normally so that you are no longer running as administrator.

Go to: http://www.pcpitstop...pit/default.asp
Click on "Free Computer Check-up" listed below PC Pitstop OverDrive
In the User Login - Click on "Sign up FREE!"
You'll need to submit a valid email address and create your own password, then click - Create Account(button)

Now enter your email address and password to Log in, Select - Scan this system Now!(button)
You will then be asked to download an ActiveX component and allow it to install.
It is safe and does not compromise your privacy.
Follow the on-screen prompts to install the ActiveX and to allow the Full Tests to be run on your machine.

The Full Tests take about 2 1/2 - 3 minutes on most machines.
When complete, a Results - Summary - Recommended Fixes will be displayed.

Please post the URL internet address, from your Results, back here into this Topic Thread so that we can review the configuration and present performance levels of your machine.

Note: During the graphics 2D and graphics 3D testing, your screen will display some rapidly moving objects.
If you are sensitive to visual flashing, it may cause dizziness. Therefore, look away from the screen during that portion of the testing.

After reviewing the results we will be more informed and may be able to provide better recommendations for you to work towards improving your machine's performance.

While PCPitstop does offer a variety of Paid Products, the PCPitstop OverDrive testing is FREE. Please ignore the references to Paid Products. We prefer to provide manual solution instructions that you can apply directly to your machine

[periwinkle]

Not sure what I could be doing wrong, but the DriverMax won't even open for me.  I installed it and every time I click open, nothing happens.  I even deleted it and reinstalled it, but nothing happens when I click open.  The blue circle goes around for a couple of seconds, but nothing happens.  Strange.

 

I ran AdAware last night and it found 2 trojans.  I followed the recommended action which was to quarantine them.  I also deleted 3 other items.  Then it prompted me to restart to get rid of any other residue and I ran it again.  It found some 2 items that were not as serious.  I'm currently running a full scan which takes several hours and already it has found 5 objects.  I'm starting to think that every time I run AdAware it finds something.  

 

I will try the PCPitstop next.

 

Any ideas about DriverMax?  This is so strange that it won't open or work for me.  Are there any other driver apps you know of to use?

[periwinkle]

Here are the PitStop results.  It was difficult to use IE as the first link provided did not work and IE would not go to the link.  Somehow I got it to work later.  Perhaps the link provided is expired?  

 

http://www1.pcpitsto...?conid=25639346

 

Something I found interesting was the download test.  I have done this in the past with this link:

 

http://www.speedtest.net/?test-2

 

At this site, I always get the results my ISP claims I'm supposed to be getting.  However, the Pitstop test and another site, http://www.bandwidthplace.com/, both showed considerably slower download speeds.  Instead of the 20 mbps I'm supposed to be getting, they showed 6 mbps and 9 mbps respectively.  I performed the download speed test a few times and kept getting slower speeds with the other two sites and 20 mbps, but more with the http://www.speedtest.net/?test-2 site.

 

AdAware just finished the scan and found 2 trojans AGAIN.  I think these are the same two I found earlier.  Apparently, these are not going away.  I followed the recommended course of action by AdAware which was to quarantine them.  Maybe I should remove them?

 

I had to download DriverMax in IE, as it wasn't working in Chrome.  I have Adblock in Chrome, which is one of the best things ever invented as it keeps every bit of crap - I mean - ads off my computer whilst using Chrome.

 

Drivermax found 20 outdated drivers.  I'm wondering which ones are the most important.  See screenshots.  In the last couple of groups of drivers, it appeared that the same driver was repeated several times.

 

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[periwinkle]

Here is the result from the last AdAware scan with 5 objects found, even though only 2 were considered serious.  I know that I tried to quarantine OpenCandy last night.  I think the Conduit item is from downloading DriverMax.  I said "no" to an item to help them give money to a charity, but later I accidentally allowed the process to run.  I had to stop it via the Windows Task Manager, as I couldn't stop it in the taskbar by clicking on it.  AdAware prompted me that it was a trojan and stopped the process.  THANK GOD for AdAware!!!!  

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[periwinkle]

There is definitely a problem!  I restarted my computer after running the AdAware scan because it recommended doing so to rid the computer of any other malware and two of my browsers, Chrome and IE have been redirected to a page called www.trovi.com.  This has not happened in a very long time, except for the crap that was bundled with one of the apps I downloaded while trying to fix my computer here at geekstogo.  Ironic, isn't it? 

 

However, I *think* I got the trojans after watching a movie online last night.  And no, it wasn't porn.  Some of those free movie sites try to force a download of their software.  I always leave the page when they try that, but sometimes just visiting the page causes them to install something.  I don't know how they are able to do that.

 

Anyway, running yet another AdAware scan and now I have to get rid of this www.trovi.com thing.  So far, it seems to be going well.

 

I had to remove something called Conduit.  I was able to remove Search Protect, which I think was related to Conduit.  This is a nasty little program.

 

AdAware found Conduit in its scan and 1 other item.  It seems to find something every single time I scan!  And I don't think it's the same things over and over.

 

I'm pretty sure Conduit/Search Protect are now gone, and no more "trovi".  I reset each browser page, except for Comodo Dragon.  Comodo would not load any page at all.  At first I thought it was unaffected, but it will normally load a Yahoo home page. 

 

Will restart and run another AdAware scan.

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[periwinkle]

I just had to report that this is a thing of beauty: AdAware found no objects!!!!  

 

Thank you for all your support thus far, Ron.  You have provided excellent help that would've taken me a very very long time to find on my own.  Plus, I wouldn't have even known what to do for many of the issues.  Again, kudos to you!!

[rshaffer61]

OK I see the drivers Drivermax found out of date and they are all different ones so we will get to that later. First off it concerns me about these infections you keep getting and it seems adaware quarantines them but it is not ridding the system of them. Before we go any further here we need to make 100% sure your system is clean and healthy.

I suspect that you have some malware on your computer causing issues that we are not able to solve through means we can use here in the Tech Forums. I suggest you read the 'Start Here' topic found HERE. With these self-help tools you have a high chance of fixing the problems on your own. If you are still having problems after following Step 3 of the guide, continue with Step 4 and 5 and post in the Malware Forum. If you are unable to run any programs, Please create a topic stating what you have tried so far and that you are unable to run any programs. Also, Please do NOT post the logs in this thread.

If you are still having issues after the malware expert gives you a clean bill of health, Please return to THIS thread and we will pursue other options to help you solve your current problem(s).
Add a link to this topic so that malware tech can see what steps have been taken here

[periwinkle]

I'm in a bit of bind here.  I was updating the drivers and now one of them has made my desktop view huge.  I've tried rolling back the driver within DriverMax as it seems to have made everything about 150% the size it needs to be.  I cannot change anything in ATI Catalyst either, as the settings have disappeared!!!  I need to be able to change my desktop resolution and something is wrong.  It seems the offending driver is ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics.  I tried restoring the driver, but I still cannot change the size of my screen resolution.  This is extremely frustrating!  I also clicked on System Restore and this took at least 10 minutes just to enter System Restore and once I opened it, it did not allow me to quit it or cancel it.  

 

I did a restart as recommended by DriverMax and then System Restore was "initializing" except it took about 30 minutes for this and I just shut the computer off in the middle as it didn't seem to be doing anything.  Later, System Restore prompted me to continue.  I didn't really want to use System Restore if I could do it with DriverMax, but I couldn't figure out how to restore my drivers.  My screen resolution is way too big and I don't see any way to fix it within Catalyst, which is the app that came with my computer.  There used to be all these options for changing screen resolution and now none of them are showing.  It's like Catalyst was ruined or something.  I really don't like when I can't fix things.

 

Like I said, I've already tried restoring in DriverMax and Catalyst still won't work correctly.  It looks like I'm going to have to do a System Restore, but I don't like doing that after all the fixes I've done recently.  I don't want any of that to be undone.